hankyoreh

By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter

Criticizing the comment that President Park Geun-hye made during her New Year’s press conference on Jan. 6 that unification would be like hitting “the jackpot,” North Korea said that the remark is “fueled by delusions about unification by absorption.” Pyongyang also called once again for the South to accede to its “important proposal” to stop engaging in “mutual slander and hostile military activity.” But the South Korean government snubbed the proposal once again, demanding that the North prove its words through action.

North Korean weekly overseas newspaper the Tongil Shinbo ran an article on the third page of its Jan. 18 edition titled, “‘Unification Like the Jackpot’: What Is the Problem?” “The words of the leader of South Korea are not being admired; rather, they are facing the criticism and the ridicule of the Korean people,” the article said. “Park’s words are fueled by delusions about unification by absorption, by the hope for a sudden change in North Korea.”

“In order to embrace unification, we must first improve the abnormal relations between North and South Korea. That’s why the Republic [North Korea] spoke at the beginning of the year about creating an atmosphere for improving inter-Korean relations. Instead of this atmosphere for improving inter-Korean relations, the South is severely antagonizing its own flesh and blood through confrontational words and actions,” the paper said.

This is the first time that North Korea officially mentioned Park’s remark about unification being like winning the jackpot. Significantly, the article criticized Park directly for talking up unification while refusing to respond to North Korea’s calls for improving inter-Korean relations and for ending slander and refraining from hostile military activities.

Despite this, the South Korean government brushed aside North Korea’s request yet again. Referring to North Korea’s requests during the regular briefing, Unification Ministry spokesperson Kim Ui-do said, “We think that North Korea is the one that is slandering us. The North should not wait until the Lunar New Year but should desist from slander and libel right away.”

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